Day in Rock Report for 10/18/2017

Today's Day in Rock Stories

(hennemusic) ZZ Top have postponed the remaining dates of their 2017 Tonnage Tour as bassist Dusty Hill takes time off on doctor's orders to take care of a health issue.

Hill is "addressing a tummy ailment and is following a directive to lay low for the next few weeks," says the band across their social media sites. The Texas trio plan to reschedule the affected dates immediately and will update fans with information when it is available.

The Tonnage Tour followed the release of the band's "Greatest Hits Live" package, which presents material recorded over the course of several tours in cities all around the world.

"We spend the biggest stretch of every year out on the road, whippin' wire, poundin' skin, and rockin' it way up," said guitarist Billy F. Gibbons about the project. "This is the true document of life de la ZZ.

"In an abstract surrealism style, this collection is a definitive chronicle of the band hangin' together for four plus deluxe decades, getting down to do what we get to do. Enjoy and listen to loudness!"

ZZ Top are planning to return to live action in 2018 ahead of their 50th anniversary in 2019. See the list of dateshere.

(hennemusic) Tom Petty was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Pacific Palisades, CA on October 16, two weeks following his October 2 passing at the age of 66 in a Santa Monica, CA hospital after being unfound unconscious in his Malibu home.

Billboard reports the service for family, friend and colleagues was held at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine, the same temple and meditation garden where Petty's good friend and former Beatles member George Harrison was laid to rest in 2001.

A spokesperson for the late rocker said the private service was followed by a celebration of life with those in attendance.

Petty's daughter, AnnaKim Violette, shared images from the memorial, including one featuring a portrait of her late father alongside some flowers at the event, which she captioned using lyrics to "The Dark Of The Sun" from 1991's "Into The Great Wide Open": "The dark of the sun we will stand together." Read more

(hennemusic) Metallica are streaming a previously unreleased demo of the title track to "Master Of Puppets", as the latest preview to the November 10 release of a series of reissues of their 1986 album classic.

The demo was recorded in the garage of The Carlson House in El Cerrito, CA in late June of 1985, approximately two months before Metallica entered Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark with producer Flemming Rasmussen to begin official sessions for the project.

The unreleased recording is featured on the 2017 expanded editions of "Master Of Puppets", including a 3-CD set that presents the remastered album, a disc that is a combination of rough mixes, demos and an interview, and a third disc featuring a mix of live songs that are sequenced into a typical set list from the Damage, Inc. tour.

A limited-edition deluxe box set includes "unreleased demos, rough mixes, interviews and live tracks, many of which have never even been available in the collector or bootleg community and were pulled from our personal collections," says the band. "There's also a 108-page hardcover book with rare and never before seen photos and essays from those who were there with us for the wild ride.

"All in all, there are three LPs, ten CDs, a cassette, two DVDs, a lithograph with art by Pushead, a folder with handwritten lyrics, and if that isn't enough to push you over the edge, we've also thrown in a set of six buttons (!)." Read more and stream the song

(hennemusic) Black Sabbath are streaming a live performance video of their 1970 classic, "Paranoid", as a preview to the November 17 release their farewell concert film, "The End."

Originally entitled "The End Of The End", the package has been renamed simply as "The End." Directed by Dick Carruthers (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Oasis), the project presents the last concert under the Sabbath brand by three-quarters of the original lineup - Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler - in their hometown of Birmingham, England this past February.

The project will be available on Blu-ray/CD, DVD/CD, 2CD and 3LP configurations. All visual formats feature special bonus material of the band playing a selection of their favorite songs not performed on the farewell trek. These intimate live sessions at Angelic Studios were recorded in the days after their final live performance.

Following its September 28 worldwide cinema premiere, the farewell concert film will see its world television debut on US cable and satellite television network Showtime on Saturday, October 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Watch the video

(Radio.com) A new photo of Mr. Robot star Rami Malek as Queen's Freddie Mercury has been revealed. The image taken from the set of upcoming Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, was shared by the film's director, Bryan Singer.

"Couldn't help myself and had to post this iPhone pic," Singer wrote on Instragram alongside the image of Malek transformed to look like Mercury from Queen's 1979 tour, captured on the Live Killers album.

Legend just released their brand new album "Midnight Champion" and to celebrate we asked Krummi to tell us about a song from the effort and he selected the track "Frostbite". Here is the story:

Frostbite is the power ballad of the album and was written on guitar. I was playing around with the guitar in a open D tuning and using a Big Muff fuzz pedal. We felt we had something there that we could work with so we added some drums and a moog synth. Sounded amazing together with the guitar.

The vocal melody came fairly quickly. We needed a powerful chorus so we worked on that for a whole day. There's a pre chorus and then the main chorus and then a middle eight part. Has the structure and arrangement of an 80's pop song.

The lyrics are about depression and how you want to feel like careless and happy like when you were a kid. It's a very serious subject matter which is very personal. If you let the depression take over it will be like frostbite. It will freeze your will to live.

Like frostbite depression needs medical attention and not to be treated as a taboo. We need to break down the stigma of depression. Open up and talk about these things. Makes things worse to bottle up these emotions. Depression can be misunderstood as a feeling and not a legitimate illness. Self acceptance and acceptance of others will help. I hope this song will help spread the awareness.

I've lost many friends to suicide. It's very common in Iceland and it shouldn't be. This should not be normal by any means.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album

(Radio.com) Record collectors, start your engines. The organizers behind the annual Record Store Day event have revealed this year's exhaustive list of vinyl exclusives set for release on Black Friday 2017 (Nov. 24).

Among this year's releases includes a pair of 7-inch singles from Paul McCartney. One is on red vinyl, the other is on green vinyl, both feature a new version of his classic "Wonderful Christmastime" featuring the Roots. The green vinyl B-side is The Decemberists' rendition of "Jesus Christ" and the red vinyl is backed by a live Norah Jones performance of "Peace."

The Grateful Dead Records Collection will compile Wake of the Flood, Blues For Allah, From the Mars Hotel and the double live Steal Your Face into one 5XLP box set. Read more

(Radio.com) While Marilyn Manson is recovering from being injured by a stage prop, the shock-rocker had plenty of strength to reignite his beef with pop star Justin Bieber.

When he was questioned about the pop star wearing vintage Manson merch during a recent radio interview Manson claimed not to have any insight, "because I don't know how to use the mind of a squirrel" (via Billboard).

"He's in some sort of sexual religious cult with an Asian version of Dave Navarro, apparently," Manson added. "The guy doesn't wear a shirt… But no, I don't like to fight with girls, so I don't want to fight with Justin Bieber." Read more

(Radio.com) Remember the "Kids"? Missing that "Electric Feel"? Psychedelic rockers MGMT have returned with the band's first new song in four years, "Little Dark Age."

"We felt like we had reached a flow, it was the sort of chemistry, the kind of magic feeling we had when we started the band," the duo explained to Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 radio show Tuesday (Oct. 17) about the catchy new song, which was the result of studio sessions in New York and Los Angeles.

"Little Dark Age" arrives with an appropriately tripped-out music video directed by David MacNutt and Nathaniel Axel that's steeped in Gothic imagery and '80s vibes. It finds band members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser being stalked by the figure of Death. Read more

(hennemusic) The Ramones will release an expanded 40th anniversary reissue of their 1977 album, "Rocket To Russia", on November 24. The New York band's third album - and last to feature their original lineup - included classic singles like "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach" while peaking at No. 49 on the US Billboard 200.

The 2017 "Rocket To Russia" 3CD Deluxe Edition reissue presents the record's original mix alongside a new 40th anniversary one by the album's original engineer/mixer Ed Stasium.

A second disc provides two dozen rare and unreleased recordings, including rough mixes from sessions at Mediasound and The Power Station, while a third disc is the complete unreleased concert recording of the band's December 19, 1977 show at the Apollo Centre in Glasgow, Scotland - just a few days before the group recorded the classic live album, "It's Alive", in London, UK.

The Deluxe Edition will be produced in a limited and numbered edition and comes packaged in a 12 x 12 hardcover book. Along with the music, the set also features stories about the band by Sire Records founder Seymour Stein, details about making the album by Stasium, and extensive liner notes by renowned music writer and co-founder of Creem Magazine, Jaan Uhelszki. Read more

(Gibson) This year's recipient of the Gibson Les Paul Award at the Q Awards is set to be revealed today (October 18th) and to celebrate the magazine spoke with previous winner Tony Iommi about the honor.

This Wednesday, 18 October, the newest recipient of the annual Gibson Les Paul Award at the Q Awards, organized by British music magazine Q will be announced.

The award, which honors guitar playing and innovation, has previously been conferred on such luminaries as The Smiths' Johnny Marr, Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, John Martyn and Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention.

The 2015 winner, the legendary Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, recently spoke to Q about what it was like to join such an illustrious club of guitar innovators, saying, "very thrilled to get that award, because so many other brilliant guitarists have received it, like Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, The Edge and Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green. It was really a surprise a to win it, and it was very unusual to win an award that was much more personal. Black Sabbath have won Grammys and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I felt like I'd joined a great cast of guitarists. I felt very honored to be a part of that group."

Iommi also made mention of the impact the iconic Les Paul - the musician, inventor and musical innovator - had on modern-day music: "His influence through innovation was huge, but he also inspired a lot of people with the way he played the guitar". Read more

Inviolate has released their brand new music video for their track "Broken Cycle". The song is the second single from their recently released album "The Insomniac's Dream".

The visual "Broken Cycle" was shot by Chance White of White Flame Studios at both the complex of the Safety Wolf facility and Atlanta's Big Peach Studios.

The band had this to say "Musically we wanted the song to build from soft and haunted at the beginning to a feeling of resolution and agency by the end. You're taking a stand and saying 'I refuse to play the victim to my circumstances' but there's acknowledgment that you can't always go at it alone.

"You have people in your corner who have your back when you might falter. The imagery of the swordswomen embodies that aspect of the lyrics. Watch the video

(Radio.com) While Morrissey's new single is called "Spent the Day in Bed," the British rock icon spends much of the song's music video rocking in a wheelchair. The clip opens with the singer being wheeled into a old-school social club, where his band is waiting.

He sings the song while sitting in a chair, pausing occasionally to stare pensively at the camera. Towards the end of the video, Morrissey hops back in the wheelchair, and gets pushed around the room by members of the band.

The video was filmed at the 142 year-old Peckham Liberal Club and directed by director Sophie Muller. It also features an appearance by performance artist David Hoyle.

"Spent the Day in Bed" is the first single from the singer's upcoming album, Low in High-School, which is due Nov. 17. Check out the new clip